What are the eating customs of the Spring Festival?

Jiaozi. Also known as "jiaozi", it is called "flat food" in some places because of its slightly flat shape. Multi-purpose leather bag stuffing, cooked by boiling or frying, frying, steaming and other methods. Jiaozi, which originated in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, is a folk food with a long history and is deeply loved by people. There is a folk saying "delicious but not as good as jiaozi". During the Spring Festival, jiaozi has become an indispensable delicacy.

Rice cakes. Most of them are seasonal foods made of glutinous rice (glutinous rice) or glutinous rice flour with different accessories. The traditional custom of eating rice cakes in the New Year began in the Zhou Dynasty. The rice cake is yellow and white, symbolizing gold and silver. It not only embodies the good wish of a bumper harvest and a rich life, but also means "long life". Today's rice cakes have developed into colorful New Year foods.

Yuanxiao. On the fifteenth day of the first month, Yuanxiao is eaten in the north and Tangyuan is eaten in the south. Yuanxiao was very popular in the Song Dynasty. It was originally called "Floating Zi Yuan", later called "Yuanxiao", and merchants also called it "Yuanbao". Usually, raw materials such as white sugar, roses, sesame seeds, red bean paste, yellow cinnamon, walnut kernels, nuts and jujube paste are used as stuffing, and glutinous rice flour is wrapped in a circle. Meat can be vegetarian and have different flavors. It can be boiled, fried and steamed, which means reunion and happy life.

Tu Su wine. It is said that it was created by Hua Tuo, a famous doctor at the end of Han Dynasty. It is made by soaking rhubarb, atractylodes macrocephala, cassia twig, ledebouriella root, prickly ash, aconite root, etc. It has the effects of warming and nourishing yang, expelling wind and cold, and avoiding epidemic diseases. Later, it was spread by Sun Simiao, a famous doctor in Tang Dynasty. Tu Su means to kill something congenial and awaken people's souls. Drinking Tu Su is also a custom in China New Year. It is said that drinking this wine on the morning of the first day of the first month can keep you from getting sick for a year.

Yuanbao soup is also wonton. Because it looks like Yuanbao, it is called Yuanbao soup. Eating wonton is to turn money into treasure, which symbolizes that financial resources are rolling in like soup. Generally, pork, spinach and leek are used as stuffing, or mutton and cabbage are used as stuffing. In the north, the god of wealth is sacrificed on the second day of the first month, and Yuanbao soup is drunk at noon that day.

Qibao soup According to the old custom, on the seventh day of the first lunar month, seven kinds of vegetables and rice flour are mixed to make soup, which is called "Qibao soup". Because of the different products in different places, the fruits and vegetables used in "Qibao Soup" have different meanings. Common fruits and vegetables include mustard, cabbage, leek, spring vegetables, celery, garlic and thick-petalled vegetables.

Two meters of rice. In the north of China, some families want to provide a pot of rice, which was cooked many years ago for China New Year. It's called "annual meal", which means there are leftovers every year, which can't be eaten all the year round. This pot of rice is usually made of rice and millet. As the saying goes, it is called "two meters" and "golden rice".

Five portions of fruit soup. It is one of the most popular traditional night snacks in Chaoshan area of Guangdong, especially in Donghai Town of Lufeng City. The Spring Festival is often used to entertain guests. It is made of coix seed, euryales seed, longan, lotus seed and adzuki bean. Some don't use lotus seeds, but add sugar when persimmon is cooked to make it moist and delicious.

Spring cakes. Beijing folk food, a kind of bread eaten in ancient spring, is very thin and also called pancake. When eaten with several kinds of lettuce, the number is spring plate. Every year in beginning of spring, Beijingers eat spring cakes, which is called "biting spring". There are also spring cakes in Jiangnan, but the practice is different from that in the north.